April 2005 RED LETTER DAY: Ground was broken on April 11, 2005, for the new municipal building and senior center. Mike DuBose, Kier project superintendent, Mayor Keith Butler, Council President Dennis Ilium, Councilmen Scott Van Leeuwen, Delbert Hodson, Kim Slater, and Rob Smout, Ray Bertoldi, project architect, Clint Costley, Kier Business Development and Bill Morris, city administrator, participated in the event. AH wielded shovels as they simultaneously dug into the earth. A group of interested citizens attended and applauded the ground breaking. Becky Burt, City Recorder, Curt Ricks, Darrell and Norine Mecham, Pam and Kellie Slater, Mr. and Mrs. Brent Perkes, Myron Stevenson, Myrna Meyerhoffer, Dolores Slater, Keith Slater, Jack and Elna Lucas, Neil Saunders, and Glen and Shauna Meyerhoffer were in attendance. Joe Torman, Kier estimator, and Joyce Van Tassell, of the Weber Sentinel were also present. Let's look back in our brief city history at what has led to this important occasion. It's been a long road for an important city project, but it is coming close to fruition-the building of our own city office building. The very beginning of governance for Marriott-Slaterville City took place at the Weber County Fire Station, at 1871 North 1350 West. The use of that facility for a few months was greatly appreciated. One of the first orders of business was to find rental property where our offices could be located. Steve Mecham and Keith Butler were able to secure Building 390, just inside the Business Depot Ogden west gate, and 1195 West 400 North, became our first "real" office. Meetings where government problems arose, were met, discussed and resolved, along with elections, and parties were held there. On June 17, 1999, an open house where citizens could sign the Articles of Incorporation was held. This was the first community activity, one which Interim Council President H. Orvil Holley called our "Independence Celebration." The building served us adequately until we were asked by Ogden City to vacate the site, which we did in May 2003. Soon after, that building was demolished by Ogden City to make way for their improvements. Ken Martin made arrangements with Steve Peterson for our second office. We moved a little east and north into the south end of Warehouse Building 15C, 1140 West 400 North, still on BDO, which gave us additional space and has served our needs to the present time. When Mr. Peterson did not renew his warehouse lease, Ogden took back the property. Ogden City has again requested that the current offices be vacated. This time it is to be as soon as practicable. The goal for our own facility was a recognized need from the beginning of incorporation. Money was set aside each year for this purpose. A committee consisting of H. Orvil Holley, Jim Ito, and Trudy Hill, was appointed in 2003 to look over the community for feasible building sites and to give a list of possibilities to the City Council. The preferred site listed by the committee was property owned by Ruth DeVries on 700 South. The city worked with the DeVries family on acquisition of this property for six months, but no agreement could be reached. Property on the Randy Marriott development, Spencer Farms, on 1900 West, was available. Only 30 lots could be developed without two access roads, which left a three tot area not included in the development. However, no utilities, gas, water, sewer or electricity, were currently available, making this less desirable. James C. Blair, Jr., who died in 2004. donated four and one-half acres east of the golf course and the Keith Slater home to the city. Jimmy Blair carried this wish out for his father and as a possible tax break for the estate. The City Council decided to build on this ground. In addition, the ground on the Randy Marriott development was also pursued as a potential park land adjacent to the open space planned on that development. An alternate use could be the erection of a maintenance building. Requests for bids for the design-builder of the new building, which will include a senior center, were announced in January 2005. Twenty-two requests were distributed and eleven responses received by the January 31, 2005, deadline. A committee consisting of Mayor Keith Butler, Council President Dennis Ilium, and Shauna Meyerhoffer was designated, with the task of reviewing the bids and ranking them in order of suitability. The committee interviewed the top three design-builders and ranked them: (1) Kier Construction, (2) R & O, and (3) Assent Construction. The council accepted the committee ranking recommendations. Once Kier was selected as the top design-build contractor, the committee and the design-builder created a plan for the planning commission's approval, which was obtained in March. Each year Bill Morris has worked to obtain a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), which is a federal grant administered by the state. After several years of being denied, the city received a multi-year grant in 2003. The grant awarded was $500,000 to be apportioned each year for three years. So by 2005, all the funds were available and held by the state. Bill Morris was required to complete a series of steps in order to obtain the CDBG fund, including environment assessments, requests for proposals, audits and reviews, bids and designing, among other things. The city hopes that construction will be completed by December 1, 2005.